Over the years, many variations of the standard children's book have been developed. Books shaped similar to a figure discussed in the book, books made of various materials, and books with hinged flaps concealing illustrations, are all well known in the art. A popular type of book among young readers is the pop-up book containing illustrations that spring out perpendicular to the open page.
Yet another variation of the standard children's book utilizes holes or apertures cut out of a number of pages in the book. Many of these books use the hole to disclose only a portion of a larger illustration on the following page, requiring the young reader to use imagination and reasoning to guess the identity of the larger illustration.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,028,921 to Wagner discloses a book with a design placed on the book's rear cover with a portion of the design in relief. Additionally, each page contains a design with an aperture cut therein. The apertures of each page are in registry with one another so that any page folded flat onto the rear cover superimposes the relief portion of the rear cover and completes the design on the respective page. However, the apertures only superimpose a relief design on the rear cover. The apertures are non-functional when the reader views the back surface of any page.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,489,240 to Meyer discloses a book with a mirror affixed to the front cover of the book. A hole or aperture is cut out of each page. The apertures of each page are in registry with one another. The front surface of each page contains printed matter corresponding to the illustration on the back of that same page. The illustrations on the back of each page are incomplete representations of a person with the head portion replaced by an aperture. Any page placed flat against the front cover exposes the mirror through the aperture. The reader's face in reflection completes the illustration. Although the front surface of each page contains printed matter, the apertures are non-functional when viewing the front surface of each page.
A Great Britain Patent, 705,459, discloses a book with a human figure on the rear cover. The front surface of each page shows various sets of clothing and contains at least one aperture. This aperture is positioned so as to exclude the human head from the design on the page. Each page when opened against the rear cover presents a human head appearing through the aperture to complete the illustration. However, the apertures only superimpose figures affixed to the rear cover. Therefore, the apertures are non-functional when viewing the back surface of each page. It was also disclosed that a photograph could be used to achieve the same purpose.